I recently came across a couple of articles about the topic of carbo-loading:

In this article from Runner’s world, the author stresses the importance of carbo-loading and suggests that you begin upping your carb intake as much as 2-3 days before your race, including such things as lower-fiber fruits, tortillas, oatmeal, bread, pancakes, waffles, bagels, yogurt, and juice.

In another article from Bicycling magazine, Dr. Allen Lim, who works with pro cyclists, suggests that you avoid the traditional whopping plate of spaghetti. “… He has eliminated all processed wheat from the team’s [Garmin-Slipstream's] diet, and at races has replaced traditional starchy foods with balanced, whole-food fuel such as rice cakes made with eggs, olive oil, prosciutto and liquid amino acids.”

One thing that the two articles have in common is a picture of a big plate of pasta!

As we approached our first half-marathon, I was combining strength training, running, and better diet to improve my overall fitness. I must admit I thought of the idea of eating a big meal of pasta as kind of “falling off the wagon.” I begrudgingly had a little bit of spaghetti the night before.

But now, we occasionally ride our bikes for more than 2 hours, and I’m starting to appreciate the importance of having some snacks before, during, and after the ride. Maybe we would be faster and better racers if we were smarter and “carbo-loaded” properly. What do you think?

This weekend is our 3rd half-marathon. Unfortunately, I did a dumb thing this week and took a short run with a new pair of shoes, causing some blisters on my toes. Hopefully it will be OK for the weekend. Along the same lines, Eyegirl is having some more toe issues and hopefully will be able to make it too! We are terrible at training for races aren’t we?